The Essence of Grace

Grace is when I pray for something, and while I'm complaing that I don't have what I just prayed for...my prayer is answered.

Grace is when I go days without talking or acknowledging His presence... but the second I return to Him, He's right there to listen and comfort me.

Grace is when I'm upset with someone close to me and we argue, then we part ways... but He keeps us alive and safe so I have an opportunity to apologize.

Grace is when I make decisions on my own without surrending to God's will and He allows me to test the waters... but then delivers me from those bad decisions and makes me better than I was before.

Grace is when God blesses and protects me... for no reason at all.

He has done so much for me and my family, the only thing I could think to write about was His Grace.  We need to stop being spoiled, and start acknowledging the being responsible for the life we complain about.  I have to tell myself this almost every day, and every day I choose to thank Him for his unconditional love.  As long as we're still alive, we will always have another chance.  I pray I can see myself and others the way He sees us... as complete, resilient, beautiful, beings created in His perfect image. 

As always... Be Encouraged and Be Blessed!!

Dasha

2012 - You're Winning!

I can't believe we are almost into 2012!  This year has been phenomanal, lots of highs and lows, and most important . . . full of change.  Change is the one thing, we human beings, have absolutely no control over.  It's inevitable.  Our lives will change, our bodies will change, our attitudes will change, no matter how much we try to stop it, it just happens.  The best way I've learned to deal with any change, good or bad, is to embrace it, and welcome it trusting that all things are working together for my good. 

2011 contained different life experiences for each of us.  Some of the situations we faced in 2011, we wish we would have never had to go through.  While other events, we wish we could re-live over and over.  Either way, 2011 was a year of promotion and growth for all of us.  When I say promotion, I mean spiritual promotion.  We've learned (or are learning) to accept ourselves exactly the way we are, and our relationship with God continues to grow.

As I go into this new year, and celebrate this holiday with my family, I just want to thank God for everything in 2011.  The good, the bad, and the ugly lol.  God showed up in my life, and He showed out.  As you go into this new year, re-evaluate your inner circles.  Surround yourself with positive, uplifting people who are working towards a goal, or goals.  This energy is so contagious, and as you watch your inner circle of friends receive their blessings, you will receive yours as well.  Remove the people who are bringing you down, you can always love someone from a distance, and sometimes silence is the best form of communication.

No matter what your 2011 was like, believe that 2012 is going to be far better than anything you could have possibly imagined for yourself.  Look beyond what your eyes can see, and tap into the faith that has gotten you to this point in your life.  Activate the peace that surpasses all understanding and thank God for the presents (blessings) that already have your name on them.  In 2012 . . . YOU'RE WINNING!

Be Blessed all!

  

For the Ones I Love:

My inner circle consists of my husband, my immediate family, and about 4 very close friends.  You guys have been so supportive of me, and I love you more and more every day.  The blessings I've witnessed you receive throughout this year brings tears to my eyes because I know you deserve it!!!  God has given me so much just by giving me each of you, and I hope I can give you guys back what you've given me plus more.  I love each of you so much, and I love being on this journey with you.

 Dasha 

Your B12 Shot

This week was a tough one, yet very rewarding.  In fact, it may have been one of the toughest weeks I've had in a while, yet I've received some of the greatest rewards.  I like to think of myself as a positve person, and an encourager.  But sometimes the encourager needs encouragement, and that is exactly what I received, and it was from unexpected sources.  (Side note: It's funny that everything we are looking for, everything we need and want, is usually right in front of us.)

As an encourager and a giver, I find myself growing weary at times.  There are times when I feel totally drained, totally out of it and ready to check out.  At those exact moments, God always gives me some type of good news.  I'll never forget, when my daughters were born, they stayed in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) for 8 days because they came 6 weeks early.  Those were the hardest 8 days.  It was so difficult for me to leave them there.  So I visited throughout the day.  When they were about 3 or 4 days old, they were put in an incubator.  This was the first time they had been put an incubator.  They were maintaining their body temperature pretty well, so I thought, "Why now?!  Is there something wrong with them?!"  I wanted them to come home.  After that visit, I cried for a while.  My mom had to almost carry me out of the hospital.  (Post-partum hormones weren't helping either lol).  While I was crying in the car with my mother, I got a phone call, it was my doctor's office, they had the results of our daughters' blood tests.  This test would confirm if they were identical or fraternal twins.  The nurse delivered the news, "Your girls are identical.  Congratulations!"

I thought to myself, WOW!  Our babies are identical!  How often does that happen?!  How blessed are we?!  HOW BLESSED AM I?!  Needless-to-say, that call was delivered at exactly the right moment.  At that specific moment, I felt so depleted, so worried, so distressed, and God gave me my B12 shot.  He gave me what I needed to get through the next few days.  They were born when I was 34 weeks, and were expected to stay in the hospital for 4 weeks, I believe.  Those strong little girls came home in 8 days.  8 DAYS!!!  They ate well (and still do lol) and maintained their body temperature with no assistance.  They are strong, independent little Queens and I can't wait to see them become the trailblazers of their time.

I wrote this tonight, so that you can give yourself a B12 shot.  The holidays are a very joyous time, but the hype of it all, can make some people feel a little down.  As long as you're doing the right thing, believe that God will give you what you need right when you need it.  He will send something or someone your way to encourage you, and remind you of all you have overcome, and remind you of who you are.  Each one of us has power within us that is so strong, it simply cannot be measured.  Our hearts are remarkably resilient.  When you feel depleted, when you feel like you have nothing left to give, be still and wait for the blessing, because it's already been given to you, you have already received your advancement, God is just waiting to deliver it at the exact... right... moment.

Believe it and Receive it!

Love you all!

Dasha

BOLD AS A LION

As I sat and relaxed this evening after a fun and eventful day (my son celebrated his 9th birthday!!), I opened the Bible to book of Proverbs.  Now, I have to be honest, I haven't opened the Bible and just read in a long time.  (I definitely need to get better)  I have a forever growing relationship with Him, and when He speaks to me, sometimes it's so bold and so clear.  Tonight, when I opened the Bible, and was led to Proverbs 28:1:

The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

It immediately gave me so many answers on so many different levels.  How many situations do we avoid because we just don't want to deal with it?  When God said we have the power to move mountains, IT WAS NOT A LIE.  Within us, we have an amazing ability to transcend every situation we have ever faced and will face in our lives.  Speak LIFE into your spirit and encourage yourself.  As it's been said before, we were fearfully and wonderfully made.  We were not created to run, we were not created to be cowards . . . we were created to rule, to govern, to reign.  It's time to take control of your thoughts, take control of your emotions, let faith, logic, and His wisdom guide you.  When you feel like running away, BE AS BOLD AS A LION. 

Now I don't live in the wild, and don't have too much experience with lions lol... but when have you ever seen a lion run away?  When have you ever seen a lion get too emtional and not be able to protect his pride?  Never . . . as a matter of fact, a lion will fight until death to protect its pride.  That is an interesting word . . . pride.  In the same way a lion protects his pride (his family), we have to protect our pride (our confidence).  As C.S. Lewis has written, too much pride is the greatest sin.  So we have to be careful with this.  We must always remember to keep ourselves humble as well.  However, I believe too little pride and little faith could also be the greatest sin.  Believe in yourself, and believen in your GOD.  I tell you this, and tell myself, BE AS BOLD AS A LION.

Dasha

Limitless

Long awaited and much anticipated ... IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME!  This my friends is truly a blog I wrote today lol....

Much has changed, as it should, and I have embraced each change in my life with open arms.  This Thanksgiving weekend has been so special, partially because it's my favorite holiday, but mostly because I got to spend this time with my husband and kids without waking up super early and going to work (YAYYY!!!)

While enjoying our rest and relaxation, we watched a movie, Limitless... starring Bradley Cooper (recently deemed the 'sexiest man alive' - I THINK NOT LOL).  The plot was amazing, and the movie offers an intriguing idea... what if we could take a pill that accessed the other 90% of our brain, which would in turn, increase our mental focus, and make us rich and powerful.  Most people would immediately say, 'sign me up son!'  But what if.... we didn't need a pill for that and it would still be possible? 

I recently finished a book by Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott, Ph.D. called If Life is a Game: These are the Rules.  Dr. Carter-Scott also offered an intriguing idea... the idea that everything we need to be successful, everything we need to fulfill our destiny is already within us.  All we have to do is tap into it.  I thought to myself, 'well what button do I push and where the heck is it?!' LOL!

If I gave you a pill, and told you this tiny clear pill can make you so focused, that you could write an entire novel in 1 week, or learn how to play the piano, then you would probably take it.  Now what if that pill was simply a vitamin B pill, all natural, nothing special about it.  But while I was talking, you had already convinced yourself that you would be focused right after you took the pill (not knowing what it was), and indeed you were.

The mind is powerful folks.  Our ability to focus is there, we just have to remove the distractions.  We can't let negative thoughts set limits on our lives.  Our what ifs should sound more like, "What if Oprah came out of retirement, just to interview me and talk about my books?  Or what if she invited me to a gathering of world leaders, philanthropist, and what I like to call 'game changers'?" Okay, okay... you caught me, that was a thought of mine, that I like to think of... often lol.  The point is, our 'what ifs' shouldn't be negative, or fearful, or 'what ifs' should be LIMITLESS!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Dasha

Pivotal Moments...

This is also an old post that I never published (what was my deal?! lol)... oh well... here it is:




It's been a while since I've blogged, did ya miss me?! lol ;-)  I can honestly say I missed it...  And I'm happy life slowed me down a bit so I could reflect on the last 5 months.  In the process of working, taking care of a family, going to school, and planning a most fabulous wedding, I have managed to catch a cold that knocked me down for going on 5 days now. 
My problem is I do not know how to be still.  Boredom drives me crazy, and I hate wasting time.  I have 'busy-body syndrome' lol.... yeah I just made that up.  Everytime I get sick, I always know it's because I need to stop, and get back in touch with what matters the most.  It's not my job that matters, it's not money that matters, it's not anything materialistic... what matters the most is my family and my spiritual health. 

I relate my spiritual health to my physical health a lot because I believe, what is within, shows itself in our physical health.  This is not the case all the time, but for me, it is the case most of the time.  I get these things called cluster headaches, and if you don't know what they are, all you need to know is that you never want to have them lol.  The entire time I dealt with this, I kept asking God to take the pain away, I mean like really attempting to bargain with God.  Make a long story short... It didn't go away when I asked it to, the attack ran its course. 

This couldn't have happened at a better time... I was less than 2 months away from my wedding date!!  At the time, I wondered if the attack would last until June.  What if I can't walk down the aisle?  What if my dress doesn't fit anymore?  What if... what if... what if.  Then I heard... 'You'll still get married.'  It didn't matter if I couldn't walk down the aisle, my dress didn't matter, the flowers didn't matter, none of it mattered... because I was still getting married.  The only thing that mattered was me pledging my love for the man God created for me, and joyously accepting my role as the woman God created for him.  We were fearfully and wonderfully made ... and instead of focusing on the pain, I focused on the love I felt from my family and the beautiful life ahead of us. 

*SPOILER ALERT* (LOL)  Our wedding day was perfect.  When I woke up that morning, I could feel something big happening spiritually, I could feel that I was forming a bond that was sent by God, and that would always be led by God.  I'm so thankful and could not have asked for a better husband.  I love that man with all my heart and soul, and don't plan on changing that!

Hold Em or Fold Em

I wrote this a loooonnnggg time ago and never posted it.  I added a little bit to it ;-)


I am slowly being sucked into an interest for poker (thanks to my wonderful fiance lol).  The game is all about strategy- knowing when to play a hand by calculating risk, knowing your opponent, anticipating what cards will come on the flop (Yes, I'm getting pretty good at my poker lingo).  The more I learn about it- the more I see poker can be related to the choices we make in our lives. 

In Texas Hold Em- each player is dealt 2 cards.  Some players end up with better cards than others.   In a deck of cards, there are far more weak cards (numbered cards) than strong cards (face cards).  Similar to life, where very few of us our dealt face cards in the very beginning.  Some of us were born in poverty, while others were born into wealth.

But whether you were dealt a horrible hand or a great hand, winning the game is about patience, risk, and knowing when to hold onto the cards that you need, and when to throw away the cards that you don't need.  If we all had the ability to throw away the memories that hold us back, and keep the ones that made us stronger, we would all be in a place of peace and continuous positive growth.

I'm challenging you to think about the situations and/or the people that hurt you in the past.  Ask yourself why it bothers you so much, what is it exactly that hurt you so much.  If you need to scream while you're doing this, then do it, if you need to cry while you're doing this, then do that, but what I don't want you to do, is feel sorry for yourself.  As you stir up these emotions, thank God for them.  I know that may sound crazy, but those people who hurt you, those situations that almost got the best of you, were all placed there to push you toward your destiny.

If you're familiar with the story of Judas, then you know that Judas betrayed Jesus, and this betrayal pushed Jesus toward His destiny.  Jesus had to face rejection in order for you and I to be saved.  What makes us better than Jesus?  Who said we wouldn't have to face it ourselves at some point, no matter how painful? 

In other words, we all need a Judas... or 2 ... or 3 ... maybe even 4!  Those people drive us toward the greatness we have within.  So get out all those past emotions that still bring tears to your eyes, that still make your heart ache, don't hold onto them, put closure on those situations by yelling or writing out exactly what you want those people to know.  Then rip up the paper... let it go... fold the memories of betrayal, throw those cards back, and hold onto the cards that will increase your chip count (in life terms, increase your peace).  Focus on your VICTORY!