Tag Archive | love

The 4 C’s to beat the enemy (fear)

Apr13

Tonight I attended a Women’s event at the church I attend.   The message was delivered by Tiffany Wendt.  It was amazing!  It was the kind of message that sets your soul on fire for God, really make you want to be fully present in your life and just be a better version of yourself.  Even if you are not a Christian, don’t attend church, read the Bible or part of organized religion, this message applies across boundaries.  It’s a message of liberation and beckons you to celebrate your life.

pair of black boxing gloves

photo source: https://unsplash.com/photos/XmvuWRDimrg

Get your gloves on! Let’s get into it.  The four C’s of Tiffany’s message were to collect God’s promises, watch your confession, control your mind and to completely surrender.

  1. Collecting God’s promises are to search the scriptures, find the promises of God for your situation and life and then stand on and in them.
  2. Watching your confession.  OMG!  As a word person this is big for me but I fall short on occasion and for about a year now, yes a year I’ve fallen heavy in to negative talk on certain issues.  We know there is power in our words.  Instead of professing the negative, draining, soul sucking, doubt rich, lie laden words, please I beg you, exchange them for positive confessions that bring life to your situation and circumstance.
  3. Control your mind.  Another big one here.  Thoughts can hold us captive or set us free.  I want to live a free life.  Not just one I visit periodically but where it really is my true North.  Tiffany said, ” if fear has your mind, it will try to steal everything”.  Get your mind right my people. Don’t allow lies (Satan) to hold you captive.
  4. Complete surrender.  Yep, this is tough or seemingly so.  Surrender to some conjures up images of being wimpy and weak.  But to surrender takes courage, takes heart.  Taking a step back from everything that we can possibly try to hold on to, trying in our own strength to make it better, make it go away, control the outcome, does more damage on the back-end.  Laying it all down can and does ease the burden.  Imagine walking with a fifty pound back sack full of seemingly important things and then one day you discovered it was giving you scoliosis, sciatica, a limp and a hunched back, it would be beneficial to lay the sack down.  It’s similar to the burdens we carry that are crippling us.

Freedom is on the other side of fear, even if you can’t see if right now. Maybe you’re afraid of what and how freedom will look and feel like.  Give yourself the gift of healing. Lay the burden(s) down and embrace your new life in freedom [with God].

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

~2 Timothy 1:7

Til soon, 

Yvette

 

 

 

Marriage Journal

Apr24

How is your marriage doing?  Are you married to someone from another culture and sometimes you feel like your communication is going right over your spouse’s head? Marriage can get dull and needs refreshing. The picture below is a book I have written on communicating more deeper in a crosscultural marriage.  I am in one and these are some suggestions I would like to share with you. Also to stay connected to more marriage stories from my personal life (some funny) etc. can be done by signing up on the mailing list. To sign up click here, Marriage Journal .Marriage journal blog photo (1).png

A week of thankfulness in memory of my mother

Dec1

During the Thanksgiving holiday week, I went home to bury my mother. She fought a good fight and now is among the ancestors.
I am especially thankful because I normally am unable to spend time with my maternal clan during the holidays due to distance. Being with them this time helped me appreciate the love of family. In spite of the differences or similarities, I value each and every person for their contribution of making our family special. My mother was a woman who encouraged everyone and it is the gift she passed on to me. During a circle of thankfulness, I reminded everyone to:
Forgive often.
Love.
Let the past stay in the past.
Talk about hurts but celebrate joys.
Pray.
Laugh.
Eat.
Tell stories.
Take pictures.
Tell one another how much you love them.
Unburden self and let go of judgement.
Prepare well for “rainy” days.
Appreciate every family member.
Play.
Dream.
Practice gratitude.
Ignore drama.
Help.
Be kind.
Rest body and mind.

My lamentation

Aug13

I’ve not been posting for a while due to a lot of life changes going on, primarily grieving my mother while she has been ill.  I’ve flown to my hometown and back to my place of residence and now back to Detroit again.  It has been very difficult on my entire family.  I don’t show all my emotions or all of what I am thinking about situations, I never have.  But my mother being ill has really zapped me to my knees and sends me to tears many a days.  Since I do not reside in Detroit, it is even more difficult on me to live in another state and wanting my mother to know I would like to be with her all the time if I were able.  Anyway, the point of this post is to say that grief and support can be shown in many ways.  Writing this post helped me to deal with my grief because I can express my thoughts and feelings without direct judgement. I am reminded of Lamentations 3:31-58 (see http://biblehub.com/context/lamentations/3-31.htm).

To all those going through a similar experience, I hope that you find the support you need to stay strong and grieve as part of healing.

 

Patience ain’t pretty

May23
photo source: pixabay.com

photo source: pixabay.com

How do you practice patience? I have decided to go on a sabbatical for a while. It was an easy choice to step away from things for a while because as an introvert, I spend most of my days like this anyway. However, the challenge in it is to understand the test of patience and the lesson to learn this time round. It is not a pretty sight. I have become a grumbler. Uggh! This is truly a thorn in my flesh. A very painful one indeed. So if you call me and you get the voicemail and text not returned, you know why.

I have been becoming easily agitated and annoyed with so many things lately and reduced to whining and complaining which is not where I want to be. I have heard the words “be patient” almost daily over the last few weeks and I take note that there is something I should learn from that. The message has been screaming LOUDLY and I can’t ignore it any longer.

I want off the treadmill of do more, see more, be more at breakneck speed caught up in the web of consumerism and meeting imposed expectations subconsciously. My adrenal glands, mind, spirit and emotions need to recover/heal from the demands I have placed on them. Nothing is that important when compared with my mental, physical and spiritual health.

I’m mostly unplugged except for blog posts and journaling which is a form of therapy for me. I do apologize if it took some of you by surprise, but most of you know me well enough by now to know that I do this from time to time. It is necessary so that I remain the loving and generous person you know me to be. The grumbler you would not enjoy having around lol.

Prayers needed and accepted. Thank you.