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

Worry About Yourself

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!

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

Faith, God, journey, self-discovery, the butterfly journey, vision

Wings Spread Wide!

Well I’m back!  After a 2 month sabbatical, I am finally back with wings spread wide!  I decided to take some time off from the Butterfly Journey in order to get clarity and direction from the Lord.  Like Joseph, I knew the dream and vision God had given me, but still something didn’t feel quite right.  I was struggling with the details.

I read and prayed a lot for the direction and clarity that I needed and boy was it refreshing to hear from the Lord on so many levels.  He is so wonderful, He gave me what I needed and more.

These are the things that God shared with me:

  1. This journey (ministry) is my life’s purpose!  Keeping the end result in mind at all times; winning souls back to God.  Helping people be “free” in understanding just how much God loves them – priceless!
  2. There is a preparation stage.  That means “testing”; we need to allow God to perfect our gifts and the spiritual things that we need in order to complete the assignment.
  3. There is a process.  God is a God of order and every step needs to be followed through His instructions.
  4. Keeping the Faith.  God will give us, ask us, tell us to do things that we may not understand at the moment.  Prayer is essential for the journey.
  5. Conquering Fear. Allowing fear to come in to the equation will stop you dead in your tracks.  We have to know and read the word of God to remove fear.
  6. Commitment.  Never, ever, ever give up on your journey!  Press!
  7. Rest.  God rested on the 7th day and we should too, don’t allow the “things” of life, even ministry to consume all of your time, remember that it is all about the Lord and we need to refresh our spirits, mind, and body every once in a while.  Don’t love the gift more than the Giver!

I pray that you will find answers and understanding for your life as we journey together.  Be steadfast and unmovable in your faith to God!  He has so much to show you and give you, open your wings and find freedom in living your life to the fullest through Him!

Be blessed!

Lisa ~ The Butterfly Journey

the butterfly journey

Thank You!

Thank you all for allowing me to take the “quiet time” with the Lord that I needed to further understand the vision the Lord has for my life and The Butterfly Journey!  I will officially be back in September with my “wings” spread wide to continue this journey with you!  Let’s see what God has in store for each of us, and let’s begin the transformation into our destiny!  Be blessed – Lisa

change, destiny, Faith, God, grace, life, prayer, preparing for transformation, seeking God

Preparing for Transformation

Before we can begin to start our “butterfly journey”, we must first prepare for transformation.  How do you do that, you ask?  It’s not easy!

First we need to change our mindset towards ourselves and recognize that we can’t do this alone.  That there is more to life than just living the way we have been.  We need God to help us through and we need each other to encourage one another along the way.  We have to build trust in God’s process.  Most importantly we need to desire the change.  We have to get tired of being tired of the way that things are with our lives.

Our desire to seek our “true” destiny has to be stronger than turning back or remaining in a life that is dead and unfruitful.  We need to acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers to life and we need God to help us.  We need to begin the purging process and that takes a lot of courage.

You will need to dig deep into yourself to identify the places in your life that need to be understood and then buried.  Asking, praying, and seeking God for those answers is our key to moving beyond our past and starting anew.  I literally had to relive those places in my life that were not so wonderful and ask God to show me why I made the choices that I did and how to move past the hurt and disappointment that people had left in my life and things that I myself had deposited in my spirit.  I had to allow Him to purge me from those things that were keeping me from understanding my “true” worth in Him.

We can’t skip this part of the process because it prepares us for the transformation stage; which in itself is a tough process.  You have to put your trust in a God that you can’t see, but you can feel His love, grace, and peace all around you!

It’s time for you to prepare, let’s go!

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa