Disconnect From the Source

 

I treated myself to a smartwatch for my birthday a few years ago and was excited because I had heard so many great things that I could do with it like, answer calls, send text messages, use it to pay at stores, and track my steps/workouts as well as listen to music while I exercise if I chose to leave my phone at home (one of the main reasons I got it). I was so excited about being able to listen to music through my earbud from my watch, that as soon as I got it all set up I went for a run in the neighborhood in the middle of the day on a hot late afternoon (which I never do) just to try out this new smartwatch that I purchased. I thought to myself, “This is so convenient that I no longer have to wear my big bulky phone on my armband or place it in my pocket. Let’s go! I am unstoppable now!” 

I began my jog with the praise music from my watch doing its thing in my ears. I was in the zone feeling good…unstoppable like I can jog all day when suddenly...the music stopped. With my pace slowing a bit, I figured maybe that it was transitioning slowly between songs or buffering because of a bad signal. I kept going but slowed down even more and realized that this pause was taking a bit longer than usual and messing up my groove. So I stopped to check my watch and realized that the unthinkable had happened! My watch said these dyer words to me, “NO MUSIC OFFLINE!” I screamed, “NOOOO!” I was too far to turn around and grab my phone from the house, yet I still had a long journey before I got back home. I felt like a squirrel trying to make a decision while trying to find a bright side to this terrible situation. I decided that I wouldn’t let this ruin my jog and decided to make the best of it and said, “Alright God, it is just You and me. Let’s work this out,” and ran along. 

To take my mind off of the distance, the heat, and the run itself, I took in the sounds from the wind and noticed the soothing breeze as it cooled me on this hot summer day. I listened as the cars passed by and watched the clouds in the afternoon sky transition from sunshine to rain clouds back to clear skies in just one instant. I listened to each breath that I took as air entered in and out of my lungs and observed the rhythm of each step that tapped the pavement. I noticed that each step and breath was in sync all in chorus with the mobility of each of my limbs working hard together to make me my best self. I was taking notice of what my body has been capable of doing all along; all of which I had taken for granted. 

I looked up and noticed that I was almost home and my run was almost complete. Just before celebrating, I heard God tell me, “I am your Source, apart from me you can do nothing.” So simple and yet so profound that it stopped me in my tracks. He was telling me that it was Him that got me through the run and not the music that I was relying on. Not only did He get me through the run, but He also did it in a way that was full of substance; a sustainable run, a run that forced me to search within myself to realize that I have all I need inside of me to get me anywhere that I need to go in life. I was so focused on the resource (the watch) that God had blessed me with that I forgot about Him being the Source. 

John 15:4 says, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” We get so caught up in the busyness of life and the dependency on resources that are designed to make our lives easier that sometimes God has to slow us down to make us realize that He is our Source. We have been blessed with convenience at our fingertips and have been exposed to so much technology that we can get lost in it all and start to depend on these things as our source. We forget how we ever lived without them which is why God will every now and then remind us that it was Him who blessed us with technology, businesses, jobs, gifts and talents, and even our family and friends as resources. None of which would sustain or be possible if we don’t keep Him first. 

So don’t get so caught up in day-to-day living traffic that you disconnect from the Source. Remember God always has ways to remind us and reconnect us so that we can appreciate all of the big and small things that he has done for us in our lives! He used my smartwatch as a way to get my attention and I am glad it was something that small. Although the music was a great distraction, it took the focus away from the core of my strength, God. He is all that I am and has provided all that is within me to take me where I need to go if I just stay connected to the Source.

Grace to Run Your Own Race

 

During one of my jogs, I came across a man running alongside me on the opposite side of the road but in the same direction as me. I thought to myself, “Ha! He can’t beat me! Who does he think he is? I will show him that I can keep up with him and beat him!” In his defense, he was just on his regular daily runs, minding his business not knowing he was up against me, the “Greatest of All Time!” Actually, he was not...I am far from it, but in my mind, I needed that mental motivation to get through the last few miles. During this internal competition that I was having with the unknowing man across the street, I realized the harder I tried to pass him the more exhausted and harder I had to work to excel in a race that wasn’t intended to be run by me. I noticed his comfortable relaxed pace during his run; not stressing or straining while I was growing more and more tired, losing breath, and falling apart all because I was trying to run a race that wasn’t meant for me. It was at that moment I heard God say, “I didn’t give you the grace for his race, I gave you the grace for your race.” Exhausted, I quickly slowed down to catch my breath and began to refocus on my own run. As I took a brief moment to watch the man continue to excel further ahead, I noticed him veer off and soon realized that our running routes were different and we weren’t even going in the same direction. I was so focused on running someone else’s race that I almost missed the direction God was trying to take me.

New York best-selling author Pastor Joel Osteen, who is also an advanced runner, talks about a time when he was on one of his typical runs and began an internal competition with a runner in front of him. He was so focused on catching up and passing this runner that he missed his turn and found himself miles from his run route and from his home. The enemy uses these tactics to distract and detour you and keep you from the destiny God has for you. Did you know that anything outside of God’s will for your life is not a part of your race? Things that don’t align with your purpose or the path predestined for your future are matters that we shouldn’t concern ourselves with. The bible says in Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us…keeping our eyes on Jesus the source and perfecter of our faith.” 

Some so many people deal with health issues, depression, or other mental and physical illnesses because they are unhappy living someone else’s dream or doing something to please others. We even find ourselves living our entire lives following our parent’s dreams and expectations, and not according to our own passions and desires. God’s grace is only sufficient for YOU and not the dreams and expectations of our parents or loved ones.  The bible says in Jeremiah 12:5, “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?” If you have given all of your time and energy to appease the will of others, how will you have enough energy when it comes time to align with the will of God? What will you have in reserve when it is time to run your own race?

God only gives us enough grace for our own race, and when we function outside of our grace we fail to function at our best. I remember working for a company in a role where I had the abilities to do the job, but because I was not aligned with my passion, I didn’t have the grace for it. Yes, I could do the job but it wasn’t something that I enjoyed or that gave me purpose. However, I continued to do the work only to make money in hopes that one day I would love it or use it to advance myself to another role that was more suited for me. Unfortunately, that never happened. I stayed in that role, and the longer I stayed, the more stressed I became. The more stressed I became, the more health issues I obtained, and worse than anything, more time had passed which misdirected me away from what God had for my life. Needless to say, God removed me from that role but kept me there long enough for me to realize that everything that I do going forward has to be in alignment with God’s will for my life; anything outside of that I will never have the grace for it nor will I find peace or happiness in it. The bible says in Acts 20:24 “...my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me..”

There will always be someone faster, smarter, further along, stronger, and more advanced than you. Your job is not to focus and duplicate their run, but to use their journey as motivation to go where God has destined for only you to go. God gives us a sufficient amount of grace only when we are in alignment with His will and it is during those times when we feel weak and tired that He provides us with the power to keep pushing forward as long as we run our own race.

Don't Look Back, You're Not Going That Way

It would be the strangest thing to see a group of people running or walking down the street backward. You would think you were in the twilight zone where the world has been flipped upside down and everything is opposite. Just imagine that you are driving in a car and you stopped at an intersection and you see various people doing their day-to-day activities backward as though it was normal. You see someone running backward to catch a bus, someone trying to walk their dog backward, and even someone jogging their full exercise route backward. Not only is it strange but it is dangerous for the person going backward and a distraction to others that try to exist with them. While I am guilty of jogging backward on hills to strengthen my calves, glutes, and rear leg muscles, I am not talking about going backward to build muscle or endurance, but desiring to live a life based on the securities from the “what-used-to-be” nostalgia of the past.

From time to time, we reminisce on our past to relive happy memories, laugh over old funny stories with family and friends, and learn from our mistakes. We relive the moment, feel the nostalgia, heal and move on. However, some people get stuck living in nostalgia and they battle between learning from the past and living in the past, and while they try to live in the present they always search for something they can never get back. Living this way is dangerous because it determines the life or death of the dreams and promises that live in your future. This reminds me of the story of Lot’s wife in the Bible, a figure mentioned in Genesis 19, who turned into a pillar of salt when she decided to look back after God had rescued her from her past. 

"15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, 'Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished... 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities - and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." Genesis 19:15, 24-26

God moved Lot and his family from turmoil into a place of promise, provision, and prosperity. However, because Lot’s wife chose to look back and focus on her past, God allowed her to stay in the past rather than allow her to destroy their future with her past mindset. Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard famously wrote, “Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.” The lessons that we learn from our past help us to understand the meaning of our lives and the purpose of our future selves. We can’t follow God’s plan and focus on our past at the same time; you will trip, crash or fall every time. Either way, it will delay or detour the success of your future.

Where your mind goes, your eyes go, and your body will soon follow. The Amplified Bible says in Luke 9:62, “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things left behind] is fit for the kingdom of God.’” Sometimes we glamorize our past and forget the struggles, the hurts, and the pains that it has caused us. We overemphasize the good memories and persuade ourselves to think that our past is better than the future God has destined us to have. The bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:10 NLT, “Don’t long for ‘the good old days.’ This is not wise.” It is not wise because it breeds discontentment with our current situation causing us to not fully enjoy the blessings that we have in our lives now. Marriages and relationships are destroyed when there is a lack of forgiveness from past hurts because we get stuck living in the “what was done to me.” And on the other hand, when we desire a person, a situation, or a thing from the past, it creates false expectations for someone currently in our lives that will never live up to our idea of “greatness” because of what we desire from your past. The bible says in Philippians 3:13-14, God’s Word Translation, “Brothers and sisters, I can't consider myself a winner yet. This is what I do: I don't look back, I lengthen my stride, and I run straight toward the goal to win the prize that God's heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus.” We can only walk into the fullness of God’s abundance if we leave the past behind.

As you run towards the best version of YOU, it may feel good every once in a while to stop, catch your breath, rest your muscles and reminisce about how far you’ve come and all you’ve been through. However, don’t get so comfortable that you lose momentum because you focused on what was behind you for so long that you allowed it to catch up with you. The destiny of your future is held in the lessons you learned from your past and how you use what you learn shows up in your present. Life is meant to be lived forward, which is why our eyes are in the front of our heads and not the back. So remember, don’t look back, you’re not going that way!

Endurance For The Run

"Can you trust me when you don't see change?" God asked me this question while running one particular day. I was in a new city and God had me run a new route where the terrain was flatter than I was used to, with little to no change. During this run, I'd notice that I was getting tired faster and my endurance to complete the run seemed almost impossible. I thought to myself, "Is it the altitude? Am I not used to running at this elevated level?" While living in Georgia, my runs typically consisted of a pattern of continuous hills and valleys, which built up my strength muscles, however running in this mostly flat environment seemed to be a challenge for me and I couldn't understand why. I thought that running on hills and in valleys would prepare me for any run situation or environment that I would face. Unfortunately, what I didn't realize was that although I had the strength for the run, I lacked the endurance to complete the run.

Oddly, it didn't occur to me that muscle strength and muscle endurance aren't one and the same and that one can't compensate for the other. HealthLink BC defines the two as, "Muscle strength is the amount of force you can put out or the amount of weight you can lift, while muscle endurance is how many times you can move that weight without getting exhausted." So ultimately, I was training myself to be a runner that lacked endurance. As a person, I knew I was strong and I thought that I was on my way to becoming a strong runner as well. Life has always given me more than my fair share of weight and I was used to carrying it all myself, but what good was all that strength if I didn’t have the endurance to go the distance? Strangely for me, I had always found it easier to run in an environment with constant ups and downs adapting to constant changes in my paths because that is what I had become accustomed to. These paths were all that I knew and the possibility of building endurance while running on what seemed like a simple terrain never occurred to me. Nevertheless, God was preparing me for a new way to run and I would need them both if I was to get through this next season in my life. 

We go through a cycle of peaks and valleys, highs and lows, and constant times of uncertainties in life that can be devastating and frustrating. Even still, in every cycle, God gives us the strength to conquer those hills in our lives so that when we go into our valleys, we have the momentum to come out stronger. However, what happens in the flat places where there is no change in the terrain? When you are on a constant journey of bad with no end in sight? Is God still working? Is He still strengthening you after constant spans of losses? Strings of deaths one after another. Loss of your job…loss of money…loss of your house…your car, and on and on. What do you gain in a steady place of bad? The bible says in Romans 5:3-4, "...but we also glory in our suffering because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope." James 1:2-3 tells us to, “Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” When facing difficulties in life, we can either give up or grow up. We get so fixed on getting through the journey that we don't realize what the journey is trying to teach us. God builds our endurance in the seasons where we don’t see change. He increases our faith, and makes us steadfast by strengthening our muscles so that we can not only make it to the end but thrive in our new beginning!

While our strength will only get us so far, we can always count on our endurance to take us to the end. So when you come across the "flat" unchanging terrain, don’t be intimidated by the temporary pain you might endure, and even if you get tired, don’t stop. Stay the course, don’t slow down, and keep your pace. Remember whenever there seems to be no change or no rest, that is when God is providing you with the momentum that you need to keep moving forward. It is in these moments, He becomes your source; the companion you need when you have lost everyone, and your provider when you have lost it all. He becomes your EVERYTHING and the ONLY thing that can give you the strength that you need when there is no momentum from the downhill to rest in. It is on the steady terrain that you become mindful of every physical element of your body and you are intentional about every move you make because you need all the endurance that God is giving you to make it through and come out stronger.

Endurance doesn’t just change the end result you are working toward, it changes your character which ultimately changes who you are to become in the best kind of way! Although running uphill is great to builds muscle and provides you with momentum as you run down, it is only on the flat terrain where your endurance is tested.

All I Have is My Feet

 "When God pushes you to the edge of difficulty trust Him fully because two can happen: either He will catch you when you fall or He will teach you to fly. ” - Unknown

You will continuously hear me say that I started running by default, which means that running was all that I had to initiate my weight loss journey. While I was “comfortably” overweight, my health made me realize that I needed to make changes in my eating habits and exercise routine. I had an old bike I had purchased from a pawn shop a while back that I really enjoyed riding. I would ride this bike along beautiful serene bike trails close to my house for both exercise and relaxation. Before I started running, this was my intimate God time; the time where He would speak to me through nature and circumstance to inspire me before I started my day. Unfortunately, because God and I would spend so much time together on these rides, my bike broke and the repair would be costly. Since it was an older bike, the best option was to purchase a new one, and unfortunately, that was not an option nor in the budget at that time. Prior to bike riding, I had recently run but only on a treadmill that I "conveniently" no longer had access to. In the past, it seemed as though once I had started gaining momentum on the road to becoming my best self, the enemy would always find a way to disrupt my progress and I would get discouraged and never start up again. However, this time was different. I was determined to change while I had the momentum and I had to find a way to make it happen. After I had taken inventory of what I didn’t have, I realized that all I had left was my feet and all that there was left for me to do was run.

 

I must admit, my first day running was a disaster. I had tried to delay it for as long as could but I put on what I thought was “jogging attire,” took my feet and stuffed them into some old sneakers, and began my journey. I didn’t have the luxury of waiting until I had the right shoes, clothes, accessories, or even the perfect weather, the right circumstances, or the perfect body for that matter. So I took the most important equipment that I had in my possession which were my feet, and started there.

 

So many people strive to be perfect before they start anything and delay progression striving for that perfection. We say to ourselves, "as soon as I get my life right, I will start going back to church," or "as soon as the holidays are over and things calm down, I will start eating better and saving money," or, "as soon as my child goes off to college I will go back to school," or even, "as soon as I find some free time, I will start the business." We tell ourselves these things in fear of not having enough or feeling like we're not at a sufficient level as our counterpart which prevents us from starting or achieving anything. This kind of perfection will never be achieved and our "idea" of perfection can not be obtained unless we start somewhere and allow ourselves to learn along the way. Waiting on perfection is a form of “Analysis Paralysis,” which is when you spend so much time trying to prepare BEFORE you do a thing, that you NEVER do anything. Perfection is an illusion that will keep you from trying, and those who strive for it, their goals will only live in their dreams.

 

A few years back, I fought my own case of "Analysis Paralysis." Not only did it delay my run, but when God told me to start this blog and also step away from being an employee to becoming an employer, it delayed that as well. My case of Analysis Paralysis told God, "Sure! Absolutely, I will get started as soon as you bless me with some free time and the money to make it happen." Unfortunately, the money never came and free time doesn't exist nor is it free; it comes at a cost that requires a down payment called "sacrifice," which I had to pay upfront! The bible says in Luke 6:38, "Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full-pressed down and shaken together to make room for more, running over and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back." If you use the little that you have right now and turn that over to God, He will multiply it and make it more than enough.

When we focus on the things that we don’t have, we disqualify ourselves immediately and as a result, have nothing more than what we've always had. We think to ourselves, “Although I have an idea for a business I don’t have the money,” or “although I have been with the company for years and I want the promotion, I don’t think I have the skills,” or “I know God has given me a vision but I come from poverty and I don’t have the resources or the support to make it happen.”  Offer to God what you have and He will take that and multiply it beyond measure. He will bring the right people, resources, finances, and opportunities your way if we just give Him what we have. The bible says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” For me, my problem wasn't my capability to do it, it was the fear of the risk that was involved in being obedient to step out and do it. I wasn't sure I was prepared for that, knowing that being obedient came with a price, a price that I wasn't yet prepared to pay.

As it pertains to running, yes, it is important to have the right running shoes and attire, just as pertaining to life it is important to also prepare ourselves in advance for business or the next stage in our lives, but what is most important is focusing on what you have in your possession right now to get started. In the bible, when Moses and the Israelites were trapped by the Red Sea with Pharaoh and his army right behind ready to attack, Moses cried out to God for help and God asked him (Exodus 4), "What do you have in your hand." In other words, what do you have right now that God can work with? What do you have so small that God can increase beyond measure and use for my glory? The bible says in Ephesians 3:20, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." If we give God our YES and our willingness to trust Him with the rest, He will do more than we could've ever dreamed of doing on our own. There is a saying, “Whatever you are not, God is.”  So, if you aren't sufficient financially, God is. If you aren't resourceful, God is. If you aren't brave enough, God is. Even if you aren't confident in yourself, God is! If we could do it all ourselves, we wouldn’t need faith and we definitely wouldn’t need God, however, He wants to be our sufficiency, our provider, and our Source for all things! He wants to be included in the details and a part of everything that concerns us! Psalms 138:8 says "The Lord will perfect that which concerns me," and Jeremiah 29:11 concludes by saying, "For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord. "They are plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future."

There were so many times that I delayed my run because I focused too much on wanting to be perfect before starting as well as focusing on the fear of failing because I wasn't perfect. I remember telling myself before I got into running that I have to lose weight so I could look slim and trim like the other runners. The problem was, I wanted to LOOK athletic before I became an athlete. What I failed to realize was that the runners that I perceived as the image of "perfection," all had to start somewhere. Although I didn’t see their full fitness journey, deep down I knew that they had made a decision to use what had to become who they desired to be.

What do you have right now that you can start with? What will you do to fight against discouraging thoughts that tell you what you have isn't enough? How will you partner with God during your journey? Remember, when you partner with God, He will always multiply what you have and make it more than enough!

Running to Your Own Music

 “Think for yourself, or others will think for you without thinking of you.” - Henry David Thoreau

I was born and raised in a small city in Michigan, and if anyone has ever been raised in a small city, we know the saying, “small town, small minds” is true. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to visit and live in other parts of the country and expose myself to various people, cultures, incomes, mindsets, opportunities, and ways of life. However, when I had to move back to my childhood hometown, I knew one major challenge that I would be facing would be trying to adapt to the small town small mind mindset.

When I would visit my family over the summer, to stay consistent with my runs I would occasionally jog around the neighborhood, just as I did in my neighborhood in Georgia. During my jogs, I would get all types of stares and remarks from people that appeared had never have seen someone or experienced someone running in the area unless it was away from the police or from gunshots. I also would run at my local family church’s park and would get the feeling like maybe I should water down my workouts since it isn’t something that is common or encouraged in most impoverished neighborhoods.

There were times that I remember being hesitant to run on some days or I would think about delaying altogether until I returned back to Georgia. This was all because I was being criticized for doing something different on my journey to being my best self than was expected of me. I even had family and acquaintances give me sarcastic “encouragement” because I guess my stepping out of the box and making better choices challenged them to re-evaluate themselves. And by me taping into my best self made them uncomfortable because I was showing them a change that they thought they were content not making. As discouraging and hurtful as some of those comments were, I knew that outside of this environment I was changing for the better and I couldn’t allow the strongholds of this temporary environment to change me. I would think to myself, “I am only in Michigan for a short time and will be back in Georgia where this kind of action is nurtured and encouraged.”  So I pushed on and continued knowing that if I ever wanted things around me to change, I had to first be the change others see.

If we are not careful, we will become what we listen to and give our attention to. The conversations that we expose ourselves to shape who we become and are pivotal to the outcomes of who our future selves will be. While living in Georgia for over 10 years and in Minnesota for 5 years, I had been exposed to another level of thinking that was abundant and well-rounded. I had experienced the benefits of a better mindset and continued to submerge myself even more. So of course, my outlook on life would appear distorted and tainted to those who were used to living their life on pause and have not been exposed to greater. In the book, The Miseducation of a Negro, Dr. Carter G. Woodson said, “If you can control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself.”

There are various types of people who come into your life. Some are anchors who hold you back and some are sails who help push you forward. I heard someone say, “In life, attempt to attain more sails because they will push you forward while acquiring more anchors will only hold you in place.” If you have anchors in your life, they are not intentionally attempting to be negative or to be perceived as negative people, they are just content with where they are and want to hold you back in their “Valley of Contentment” with them. That is where the power of the WHY comes in to help redirect your focus towards everything that you are working so hard to become.

Radio host and author, Charlamagne Tha God said on his show, The Breakfast Club, “People don’t need you to be rich to rob you. They just need you to have more than they have.” For someone to see you advancing and changing the narrative of your life, the life of your family, or even your community can spark envy, jealousy, and hate. It is the life that they wish they had but their fear will never allow them to attain it. Because of this, they will rob you of your motivation, ambition, and momentum just to keep you where they are so they don’t have to do the work to improve themselves. The bible says in Colossians 3:2, “Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” If you are trying to maintain your focus and working hard to become someone different than what your environment allows, it is important to have a group of sails to help move you forward. They will blow encouraging winds your way to give you the forward momentum that you will need to keep going. Ween out the anchors in your life as best as you can. It will help reduce distracting recordings playing in your mind as you become a better you! Blogger, Kelly Campana said, “The most expensive thing that you can do is pay attention to the wrong people.” Don't let the wrong people rob you of your dreams!

While running in Georgia and living in that “sailed” environment, I realize now that God was using my time in isolation to build my courage, confidence, and strength along with discipline, momentum, and motivation. So when the time came for me to move back to my small town, I had enough “run” inside me that pushed me to continue in my “WHY.” Now it doesn't matter the environment or the circumstance I am put in, I am totally sold to my WHY, and find ways to make things happen for me along the way. The bible says in Hebrews 13:21 NLT, “May He equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him.” Now that I am been back living in my hometown, I am realizing all that life has trained me for is embedded deeply in me, so it is not an option to adapt and settle to become something lesser than what God created me to be. I am a runner and a go-getter; a boss in her own right! I have decided that it is okay to be different, to keep running to my own music, and to be the one that is walking backward while everyone is walking forward. Blending in hides you in the crowd, being different shows the world who you really are. Albert Einstein said it better, “The person who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The person who walks alone is likely to find themselves in a place no one has seen before.”  

As you run towards your dreams and your goals, make sure to create a supportive environment full of “sails” that are on the sidelines cheering you on and helping you to become the best version of yourself. Believe in yourself and surround yourself with others who believe in you. If you do this, you can create the life that you always desired. 

What have you allowed others to tune your mind to? Have you given others the power to change your channel? What are some things that you can do to get your mind back thinking in the right direction? Check out this clip below for more encouragement!

The Recording Playing in Your Mind - Pt. 1

“Any man could, if he were so inclined, be the sculptor of his own brain.” - Santiago Ramón y Cajal

If you are like most people, you have something playing in their ears or motivating you while you work out. It could be music, podcasts, encouraging speeches, or just your thoughts pushing you and motivating you throughout your workout. I know for me, what I listen to during my workouts deeply impacts my performance and contributes greatly to what I get out of it. Having something motivating playing in my ears while running makes the process just a bit more tolerable for me. I sometimes watch other people at the gym or out jogging without headphones or earbuds and wonder what thoughts are going through their minds or what are they thinking about to motivate them? Are they speaking positive affirmations and motivational words to themselves, or are their insecurities allowing them to doubt themselves and think negative things that will prevent them from coming back to the gym the next day?

I used to take my mom to the gym to exercise with me a few years back. We would be on our treadmills and I would offer her my extra set of earbuds so that she could listen to one of the televisions hanging in the gym. Surprisingly, she would never use them during her 30-45 minute walk on the treadmill and I would think to myself, “how does she get through her workout in silence? What is she saying in her mind to get her through her 30-45 minute walk?” I am not sure if it was more for my sanity or hers but I would explain to her how much easier and tolerable the workouts would be if she had the right distraction playing in her ears to make the time pass. Either way, she pressed on and got through it in her own way. 

As we go through life, it is important to be intentional about the thoughts that we allow to enter our brains. Just like we chose the right music to help motivate us during our workouts, what we focus on and allow to replay over and over in our brain matters. The bible says in Philippians 4:8, “Whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.” The thoughts, views, and perspectives that enter into our minds determine our reality. The good thing about this is that you have the power to redirect your reality by changing what you allow to play in your mind. Neuroscientist and author, Dr. Carol Leaf put it this way, “When you think, you build thoughts, and these become physical substances in the brain.”

What recordings have you allowed to play and take root in your mind? Self-doubt? Self-devastation? Self-destruction? Self-sabotage? Low self-worth? If taken regularly, all of these thoughts are lethal to the mind. And just like medication, we take in these toxic thoughts, absorb them, and allow them to manifest inside of us. Psalms 119:15 says, “I will meditate on your laws and your ways and find my happiness in them. I will continually regard them and refer to them as the guide for my life.” Good or bad, we are what we eat, better yet, we are what we think. When we consume negative thoughts we produce negative talk. When we take in negative opinions and perceptions fed to us by others, doubt begins to manifest inside us and destroy any attempt to ever succeed. The vision that we have for our lives is first conceived in our minds, carried in our words, and then birth through our actions. So remember, words are powerful weapons; they can be used to help us or destroy us.

Philanthropist, businessman, and author, W. Clement Stone said, “We are all products of our environment.” Although that is true, I also believe that we are a product of our minds. We exist in our environment but we live in our minds. Everything that happens around us is taken into the mind before it becomes an action. When we absorb and cloud our mind with unhealthy noise, it can detour, distract and detain us from ever accomplishing anything great that God has planned for our lives. Quickly change the recording from the lies and deception to the truth that you know deep down about yourself and what God has already validated you to become. And on those days when you still feel doubtful and insecure in your attempts to succeed, be confident anyway. Everyone will think that you are the best thing since wifi and the only person who knows otherwise is you. 

These days everyone has something playing in their earbuds, AirPods, or headphones, why not make it something that not only motivates your body but your soul as well. Tune into the right recording by affirming yourself this week:

“I am lovable because God loves me.” Eph. 2:2-4 ESV

“I am valuable because God values me.” Col. 1:12-14 ESV

“I am capable because God empowers me.” Phill. 4:13 ESV

“I am acceptable because God chose me.” Eph. 1:3-4 ESV

“I have purpose because God gifted me.” Eph. 2:10 ESV

“I am forgiven because God covers me.” Ps. 32:1-5

“I am not condemned because God has redeemed me.” Rom. 8:31-34

“I can not be conquered because God rescued me.” Rom. 35-39

“I can be changed because God lives in me.” 1 Cor. 6:19-20

“I am esteemed because God takes pride in me.” Zeph. 3:17-19



The Fight For My Mind

A few months ago, my life officially was uprooted, torn apart and I was stripped of everything that I had worked so hard to build. It wasn't much but I was on my way to doing some big things, so I thought.  Anyway, a few years back, God revealed to me that I was an employer and not an employee and that I need to trust Him in building businesses that create opportunities for other people. I felt like Moses or a deer in headlights and immediately thought to myself, "Me?" I had no business experience and had no clue how to run one. I'd gone to school for Architecture, not for business so obviously, my first reaction was fear and doubt. However, over the years, God would place me in positions within companies and allow me to build relationships with high-ranking people in those companies that would force me to exercise my business muscles that I didn't know I had. My little business muscles would start flexing and I would start speaking and executing things successfully that I didn't even know that I knew how to do. Eventually, those opportunities ended and God told me that I was ready to step out on my own. I was so scared but I had taken a leap of faith and did what God had told me to do. Although it was scary and uncomfortable for me, in 2021 I began putting myself in situations where I was around successful people that were doing what I was trying to do. I started building my business website, I signed up for business mentoring and I attended several business conferences where I would network in order to build a support community. I felt like I was on my way! Then suddenly, seriously immediately things began to dry up starting with my finances, then business opportunities, business relationships, then my health, and ultimately my housing was all taken away. My daughter and I were abruptly relocated a few days before Christmas 2021, with all that we could fit in a car and I am now starting all over from scratch. I felt betrayed by God because I had been obedient and done what He'd told me to do, only for everything to be taken away from me once again. My mind interpreted my outcome as my punishment for obedience.

"How dare you step out and try to change the trajectory of your life? You knew that you were not qualified to do this. Now look at you, you screwed everything up because you thought you were special enough and had what it took to do and become something different than what you always were." The voices in my mind immediately started to reprimand and scold me into a deep dark depression. I've dealt with depression my whole life but the level of depression that I was now facing was so bad that not only did it manifest emotionally and spiritually, it took over my health both mentally and physically. I was in a silent fight for my life that no one around me could ever begin to comprehend! A fight for my sanity and my person. I had allowed the opinion of my thoughts as well as the assumed thoughts of others to win and become true, and not the thoughts and opinions of God. 

This may not be a literal reference to running, but discouragement and depression can manifest anywhere in your life and keep you from ever getting started. It will make you run away from everything that matters to you instead of running towards your calling. Running in a sense of taking control of your life in a way that you have never done before and letting God change it into something that you never dreamed it could be. Running as your power, running as your sense of freedom, running as your sense of control and stability, running as your weapon and the catalyst that changes the rest of your life! Japanese writer and runner, Haruki Murakami said, "Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest...Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that's the essence of running, and a metaphor for life." 

During this dark period, I felt the most freest and at my strongest when I ran. Because I paired it with my time with God, it became my sanity and my strength. When I don't run, I feel incomplete and not prepared to face my day if I miss this time with God. It quiets those voices in my mind that try to tell me what I can't do, what I shouldn't do, and how it all should be done. It is a daily battle, and the run equips me with weapons that allow me to be in control of my thought life for that day. The amazing Bishop TD Jakes said, "When the enemy tries to fight you with words, you have to fight him back with THE WORD." Combat the enemy with declarations and scriptures such as, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Phillipians 4:13)," or "No weapon formed against me shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17)." Declare these things over your life daily with power and conviction and the enemy has no choice but to flee your mind and your circumstances.   

There is a saying about money, "if you don't tell your money where to go, it will tell you where to go." That can also be said about your mind. If YOU don't tell your mind what to do and what to focus on, your mind will tell YOU what to do and what to focus on. Those voices stop you from believing in yourself and keep you from buying into the future God has planned for you. Bishop TD Jakes says when speaking about his book, The Crushing, "You are what you eat and the voices are what will feed your faith or fear. If you change your diet, you can change your outcome. If you continue to talk to yourself the way that you do, you will always be where you have always been." It is what you say to yourself that validates you, empowers you, and ultimately delivers you! 

I am still a work in progress, my success story is still in the process of being written. You are the spectators to this great revelation that I believe will soon come to pass. I write these things to you not because I have it all together. I write these things to motivate you and encourage you because, in the process, I am encouraging and motivating myself. I know everything happens for a reason and because of that, I am starting to live intentionally on the brighter side of my circumstances. The bible says, in Romans 8:28 NLT, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."  I am trusting and believing in that every day, and even if it seems like it never will, I know that I have the power to make it so. “

"Remember, you become what you think. Think discouraging thoughts, and you'll get discouraged." - Joyce Meyer

What battles have you faced in your mind that have had negative effects on your life? What steps will you take to be more intentional in your thought life? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.