Thursday Thirteen: My Man
Nov 30, 2007 Unplugged Authentcity
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13. He enjoys watching SVU and all the CSIs with me 12. He enjoys watching the sun rise. 11. He loves nature 10. He is as frugal as I am…sometimes though he is just darn cheap 9. He loves to travel 8. He is playful; sometime too much but truly a 50 yr old kid 7. He takes Brehane out every Sabbath to feed the birds and squirrels and visit all the neighborhood dogs 6. He is always helping others; sometimes to a fault 5. He know the latin root to all English words 4. He loves Denzel Washington and Will Smith movies as much as I do. That’s a huge plus 3. He is a Bible Scholar and knows church history well 2. He loves me in spite of and because of 1. He loves God more than me. That is how it should be (leave your link in comments, I?ll add you here!) |
A Fork in the Road
Nov 23, 2007 Unplugged Moments
You know having to deal with reality can be a difficult thing to do. I had to look in a mirror over the past few weeks and deal with some stuff.
- I am in debt about $3000 and need to get those debts paid off.
- My husband works hard to make our home a good home and help me with my business. However Vegan Family Living is still not as profitable as it should be and I know that will take time.
- I have many skills that I have allowed to stay in the background while I got my business off the ground.
- I need to make extra income because the income from VFL trickles and that does not pay a bill or help with the rent when we really need it. My husband is an electrical contractor sometimes we are hurting for money while we wait on a check or if he has to pay his employees. That is not good. Especially when I can help out.
- Being a homeschool mom is wonderful thing and it is what I love doing because I am able to give my kids a good sound education, but that still does not pay the bills. However, God wants me home and so I obey.
- I have been avoiding this for some time now.
- I hate to see my children suffer when there is more I can do to help out.
So I searched, prayed and faced the truth. I gotta get a job. How do I do that home, though, without going crazy.
I was at a fork in the road. So I prayed and asked God what to do. After all He is the on who told me to stay home. So He had to have the answer..right? I was surely not seeing a way.
Well I was sitting in the tub and as usual God spoke to me like He always does when I am in the bathroom. What He said threw me but I see the picture now.
I spoke with my good friends Shelley Valasek author of The Ruby Legacy, and Angelia L. White, publisher of Hope for Women about what I heard God tell me. The both agreed that I can do it, plus Shelley will be a part of the vision.
So I am working on Unique Design VA Services. I already do a little work to help Christian Women in business as well as speakers, authors, and writers. So what I am going to do is offer my services on a more full scale level.
Then I asked God what do I do to avoid burnout? Do I give up Vegan Family Living? Do I send my boys off to school in Chicago where the education system is not that good?
What did God tell me?
I can do it with a little help from my friends. Then He gave me the plan. Contract out services to my friends who work in the various fields of services that Christians in business need.
I took me 1 day to pull the plan together, get a few smart women involved, and to get my first client. Now if that is not God I don’t know what is.
I already know it will not be a permanent thing and God has shown me who I will pass the torch to once Vegan Family Living start showing a workable profit. I think that person knows who she is but because of her current circumstances she just can’t devote all the time, but she can help.
So to God be the glory!
Unique Design VA Services will go live in January 2008.
Thankful for Opened Doors
Nov 21, 2007 Unplugged Moments
This year I have to say I am thankful for all the doors that opened in my life. Let me say that these doors are in every area of my walk: Physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. All adding to my truly unplugged nature.
Physically I wrapped my mind around the fact that I am 38 years old and time is no longer waiting. Shoot it never waited -I just assumed it did. All the aches I had in my body and other womanly issues were not because I had problems that I had conjured up in my head, but because I was just too…well…gosh I must admit it.
I was just plain ole fat. Whew what a confession. No really, I knew that already and had been working on it years before, but this year was different. I realized that deep down inside I was really sabotoging myself. Then I had to figure it all out.
That’s when I started my healing blog Beyond the Point of Forgiveness . I was able to see that I was in self-sabotage mode because my mindset was one of unworthiness. Wow, how wrong I was.
This is when the weight started coming off. This open door was one to the discovery that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Mentally and emotionally, the doors sort of opened at the same time. Because I was in self-sabotage mode my thinking pattern was a little warped. Let’s just say it was so unbalanced that I could not stand up straight. I fell often.
I was trapped in the belief that my unworthiness was the reason why my marriage was failing, my weight was up, my business suffered, and whatever else was going wrong. I thought God was punishing my for my past or even my present state of being. I was a hellion in my younger years, but that is a topic for another time. So I assumed I was paying for all the wrong I did.
I could not wrap my head around the fact that I was being pruned so that my branch could be even more fruitful. I did not see the enemy wanted my mind to stay like it was so he whispered ridiculous junk in my head. Garbage in……well you know the rest.
God showed me these things and more. This open door was the one that showed me that if I transform my mind, not be concerned with the ways of the world, and lean not to my own understanding; then my every path will be properly directed.
Spiritually I had been having a battle with God for some time when it came to my purpose. I wanted it one way. He wanted it another. I also had some issues with Him because my husband, the minister, was not available. He was wrapped into God that I wondered why he even took the time to say I do. I was angry with God for putting us together.
My purpose and my marriage were not what I wanted it to be. How many of you know that God never works according to your will? He is not into the Law of Attraction, so you can’t have it your way. He is not the universe; He created it.
God show me that He is the alpha and the omega. My life was not my own, but His. It really is not about me anyway. But rather it is about His glory.
My husband was the example of how into God I once I was but lost my way when I got married. He was a mirror into my soul. I praise God for the revelation.
So I accepted the shift change and took the road less traveled in my life. A ministry about proactive change from the woman who reacted to everything and defended herself on every point she could. Why He chose me I was not sure?
This open door was the one that showed me that God never works with you in your comfort zone. He almost always call on you to take a risk and walk on that rope without your balance beam because He will keep you balanced.
These opened doors led to more opened doors. Isn’t that just like God?
My marriage is the best it has ever been. My teenager seeks God daily. My business is good. I am not rich, but I am establishing myself as an expert. My follow though effort has stepped up because I believe I can.
Oh so many open doors. Were I to write about them then I would write for days.
So I am thankful for all the opened doors because it helped me to appreciate all things in my life.
I am thankful!
No Clutter = Freedom
Nov 17, 2007 Unplugged Moments
I watch Oprah quite often. Yesterday and today she had a special on a woman who had over 7 tons or thrash and a warehouse of stuff she had accumulated over the years. It was awful!
Her children grew tired of what was in their parents’ home so they took action and turned her in to the Oprah show.
The Oprah staff thought it would take two days to clean up Sharon’s home but it took two months and at the the end they had a rummage sale that made over $13,000. Of course the stuff was worth more than that but it had to be discounted.
She was sick physically, mentally, and emotionally as a result of the junk in their home.
Can I tell you something?
We had a problem something like that. You see my husband had a habit of just leaving stuff where it was. So he just accumulated junk.
I hated it!
But he was in a depression that he would not admit to and he had a problem believing that God thought he was worth anything. That comes from years of hearing he would never amount to anything. Even when he knew he was called to be a minisiter, he was told it was not a worthy occupation for a Ham-Ying.
I tell you what, your relationship with your parents will affect your relationship with your Father.
Anyway for the first 4 1/2 years of your marriage I dealt with this habit by fussing, throwing all his junk away, piling is in a corner, telling him that I don’t want company because he is so junkie to just plain not talking to him. Cleaning and threatening did not help… nothing did.
That’s when I knew the problem was much deeper than the junk.
One day I just started praying for the Lord to show me that way because I was at my wits end.
You should have seen my dining room table! Now I like a clean house so it wasn’t an 1/8 of what Sharon’s home looked like. Our house was more of an organized junk pile.
One day my dear husband looked at me and said, “This house is really messy isn’t it?”
I said, “You think!”
And then we talked about how he felt about himself and how he thought God saw him. I was shocked because as I said my husband is a minister and I thought all ministers had some idea of God’s love for them.
My husband knew he was loved but in more of a Father disciplining his child every day and spending time with the child only to tell him what needs to be done. Oh how wrong he was and I reminded him of Psalms 139 where it give us a laundry list of just how much God really does love us.
I think he cried that night but you know what….that’s growth and it only encouraged him more to go forward in what the Lord has for him with ministry (a lifestyle ministry by the way).
That day he saw that the clutter in his life had less to do with the physical junk, but the mental junk he had bottled up for 50 years. Sad how what our parents do to us as children follow us right into adulthood without the proper guidance.
Today he knows more about the love of God and that He is worthy of all that God has for him. It has made a world a difference.
Yeah sure he still makes some messes but old habits die hard. However, every day I watch him try hard to be on time, organized, and less of a mess.
I think for my husband, Sharon, and other recovering hoarders they see that No Clutter really does equal FREEDOM!
Praise God for Freedom! For me that is truly an unplugged moment.
Thursday Thirteen: Magazines
Nov 16, 2007 Unplugged Authentcity
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13. Pink - a Business magazine for women 12. People - Can’t wait for the sexy men issue this Friday 11. O - Love me some Ah Ha Moments 10. Antiques - I just love the pictures 9. This Old Schoolhouse - homeschooling magazine. I need to renew this one. 8. Sports Illustrated 7. First - love the tips 6. Black Enterprise -I get so inspired 5. Natural Home 4. Vegetarian Times 3. Essence 2. Family Circle - Sorry I am just a mom in love with my home, cooking, and family 1. Woman’s Day (leave your link in comments, I?ll add you here!) |
My First Thursday Thirteen
Nov 8, 2007 Unplugged Authentcity
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13. Doing a Suduko Puzzle 12. Sipping on tea and just thinking 11. Reading the current issue of Essence 10. Watching squirrels eat 9. Journaling 8. Taking a walk to the lake - I can walk there in about 15 minutes 7. People watching - You would be surprised at what God give you pray over as you watch. 6. Just hearing God 5. Watching my sons sleep 4. Reading a good non-fiction book - currently I am reading Mirror Mirror on the Wall (a Pink Collar Club Collaboration) 3. Writing devotions 2. Taking a long bath 1. Reading the book of Psalms and reflectingLinks to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I?ll add you here!) |
